#totsob

[pen-of-dunwall]

The Tale of The Shadow on Bitterleaf

by essie-essex

based on “The Shadow on Bitterleaf” from Dishonored

Introduction

When I first found the crumbling pile of loose paper, littered with scribbles and strange drawings at the now abandoned Bitterleaf Almshouse, I mistook it for nothing but trash, for what else would one find among the poor and decrepit dead? Just as one does not expect to find a rail car in the middle of a desolate forest, gold is not an item for which one would search while exploring an old building littered with filth and the rotting remains of its former tenants.

Sorting through those scribbles and drawings has not been an easy task. When I first started this project back in 1835, I simply thought that I would be reading through a bunch of rambling nonsense, probably from some old man or woman not sane of mind, but in that strange hand were words, and to my surprise, the words strung together to form a story.

And so I became engrossed in this twisted tale of forbidden lust, a story that is both cautionary and provoking, intertwined with dark magic and the unclean taint of the soulless beings who practice it.

Our protagonist in this work of horror is Leona Blackhill, a young woman most foolish and undisciplined, lacking the morals which are so crucial for ladies in this strange and modern world to learn in order to resist the temptations brought to Gristol by immigrants and foreign merchants, who are so apparently devoid of the sophistication so taken for granted on this enlightened isle. We all know at least one Leona, the one who would rather daydream than focus on her studies, who would rather play than work, who refuses to marry and take on the responsibilities of a respectable wife. Luckily, most of these women have someone in their lives to set them straight, as is so with the newly married Mrs. Blackhill whose parents arranged her betrothal to a rich businessman-turned-philanthropist by the name of Claudius H. Blackhill, but sometimes even we are not enough to save these poor and misguided women from acting on their own treacherous whims.

Certainly, in this story, Mister Ignacio Delmarino, a young scoundrel raised on the filthy streets of Cullero, is not the antagonist (though in real life, it is usually this type who does the most evil). When he travels to Dunwall, only crossing paths with Mrs. Blackwell due to a serendipitous mishap, our story is set into motion, and as I believe most of you expect, the path will only lead to tragedy and pain most agonizing, not only because of Mrs. Blackwell's and Mr. Delmarino's sinful escapades, but because of the evil that follows the Serkonan and his shipmates across the sea -- an evil that can only be attributed to one corrupt being -- one who works with dark forces. A witch.

I have attempted to write the entire story, keeping it as intact as I can, but due to the inevitable and destructive forces of nature, many of the original pages have deteriorated, some completely lost forever. And so, I present to you, the honorable reader, a story written by a poorman whose name shall sadly be lost forever, but whose legacy shall continue to live on in these pages.

- Cornelius J. Crowley - Dunwall, 1839